[Blindmath] Math of Finance

[Brice Smith]

Hi,

As part of my general education requirements at college, I'm required
to take a couple of general math courses to graduate. I've found a
general ed course called Math of Finance and it looks exciting. From
what I've been able to gather, the course centers on solving financial
word problems. topics include simple and compound interest, annuities
and their application to amortization and sinking fund problems,
installment buying ,calculation of premiums of life annuities and life
insurance. Is anyone here familiar with math of finance or has taken a
course on the topic? Is the material fairly accessible or easy to
solve without too much sighted assistance? Specifically, here is what
I'm wondering:

The course requires a business calculator. The suggested model is the
HP-10B. Is there an accessible business calculator that I can use with
Jaws or another program, or is this an area where I'll need sighted
assistance to press buttons?

Finally, while the course involves word problems, the syllabus talks
about how creating diagrams called "time diagrams" will be essential
for success for most students. Again, for those of you who have taken
or know math of finance, is this an area where I will struggle
independently or may need to hire a reader or other assistance during
the semester?

Thanks for any help. As you can probably tell, I'm not a real strong
math student and am really just trying to graduate next May.